NATO allies foiled Russian test of secret weapon designed to disable undersea cables - Reuters
Britain, Norway and the United States foiled a Russian operation in the Arctic this spring involving a secret weapon designed to disable critical undersea cables without leaving evidence of sabotage, Reuters reported on Sept. 10, citing two Western officials.
Russian deep-sea submersibles were conducting an exercise near Norway's Svalbard archipelago to simulate the deployment of the new technology, according to the officials.
A joint British, Norwegian and U.S. operation tracked and confronted the Russian vessels at sea, preventing them from completing the exercise. The vessels eventually left the area.
Britain and Norway disclosed in April that they had detected covert Russian submarine activity in Arctic waters. However, the existence of the new weapon, the location of the operation and U.S. involvement had not previously been reported.
The potential targets included two 1,400-kilometer (870-mile) fiber-optic cables connecting Svalbard with mainland Norway. The cables carry large amounts of satellite data from SvalSat, the world's largest satellite ground station and part of NASA's Near Space Network.
No cables were damaged. The exercise simulated the technology's use in a potential conflict with NATO, the officials told Reuters, without disclosing how the weapon works.
British and Norwegian officials later informed Moscow that they knew about the technology, hoping the disclosure would deter Russia from using it.
“Through our joint operation, we sent a clear message to Russia that they cannot operate covertly,” Norwegian Defense Minister Tore Sandvik said.